Vladimir Putin's presidency got extended by six years after he won the election that took place from March 15 to 17, 2024, having received 87.29 percent of the votes. With a total of 24 years in office, Putin has been Russia's head of state since 2012, following his previous terms from 1999 to 2008. In the presidential election in 2018, he received more than three-quarters of the votes. The constitutional reform of 2020 annulled the presidential terms of Putin prior to the 2018 election. Furthermore, it limited the maximum number of presidential terms to two, whether they were consecutive or not. Thus, under the current legislation, Putin would not be allowed to candidate in the 2030 election.
In the months preceding the election, Boris Nadezhdin, a former State Duma member who campaigned against the war in Ukraine, was the main opponent of Putin; however, he was disqualified in February after more than five percent of his submitted signatures were declared invalid, together with several other candidates. Russia's most famous opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, died in prison in February 2024 while serving his 19-year sentence for alleged extremism activity and fraud.
Putin's opponents
Besides Putin, the anticipated winner of the election who was trusted by 85 percent of Russians, the candidates were Nikolay Kharitonov from the Communist Party, Leonid Slutsky from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and Vladislav Davankov from the New People Party. The three candidates' campaigns mainly included domestic policy improvements in social welfare, small business support, and the utilities sector. Putin's program focused on state sovereignty, security, defense, citizen rights, and technological independence.In the months preceding the election, Boris Nadezhdin, a former State Duma member who campaigned against the war in Ukraine, was the main opponent of Putin; however, he was disqualified in February after more than five percent of his submitted signatures were declared invalid, together with several other candidates. Russia's most famous opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, died in prison in February 2024 while serving his 19-year sentence for alleged extremism activity and fraud.
